Saudi Arabia Plans for Volleyball with World Federation Cooperation

Saudi sports officials, in a meeting with officials of the World Volleyball Federation, reviewed the next steps for developing the sport in the country, from talent identification and development of local players to training coaches and referees.

According to "Varzeh Se", the growing popularity of volleyball in Saudi Arabia and the upcoming opportunities for further development of this sport throughout the country were the main focus of a meeting attended by representatives of the Saudi National Olympic and Paralympic Committee at the "Volleyball House" located in Lausanne.

This meeting provided an opportunity to explore the ways of using the strong and existing infrastructure in Saudi Arabia for a wider support of volleyball at all levels; From introducing young people more to this sport to the development of national teams.

The delegation of the Saudi National Olympic and Paralympic Committee, headed by Prince Fahd bin Al-Jawad bin Abdulaziz bin Massad, the vice-chairman of this committee, was present in this meeting. Moaz al-Fifi, the director of the project management office, Naser al-Majali, the secretary general of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation, and Badr al-Daghter, the assistant director of international affairs, also accompanied him.

The members of this delegation met and talked with Fabio Azudo, President of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), Ugo Valencia, CEO of Volleyball World, Guido Betti, Director of Operations of Volleyball World, Steve Tatton, Director General of Sports of FIVB, Yu Dao, Head of Sports Department, and Anna Manuelian, Head of International Affairs and Communications.

Referring to the popularity of volleyball in this country, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, the Saudi delegation emphasized the broader role of sports in this kingdom and focused on talent acquisition and training of local forces.

In this regard, the "Saudi Games" was mentioned as the biggest national multidisciplinary sports event in this country. The last edition of these competitions, which was held in 2024, hosted more than 6,000 athletes from different clubs and provided a national platform for the competition and development of Saudi athletes.

The development of local expertise was also one of the important axes of these discussions. In this section, potential knowledge transfer programs to coaches, referees, and managers were reviewed; Programs that can play an effective role in further strengthening the Saudi Volleyball Federation.